This novel about a girl who’s convicted of killing a baby – but won’t say whether she did it – sounds a tough read but utterly incredible. Six years after the conviction of her and her mother, she meets a boy and becomes pregnant, and has to fight for her future with her unborn child.

See You In The Cosmos by Jack Cheng (Puffin)

Road trip books are one of my favourite genres, and this MG about a boy who wants to launch his iPod into space to show other lifeforms what Earth is really like sounds both hilarious and moving.

The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi (Simon & Schuster – but unsure if it’s US only?)

Karuna is fabulous and this book, described as “steampunk Jumanji with a Middle Eastern flair” sounds amazing! Also great to see hijabi girls on the cover.

American Street by Idi Zoboi (HarperCollins – again, not 100% sure it’s out in the UK but very much hoping so!)

An #ownvoices story about a Haitian immigrant to the US whose mother is detained, leaving her to navigate life with her American cousins, settling into Detroit’s west side, and a surprising new romance, this sounds wonderful!

Done Dirt Cheap by Sarah Nicole Lemon (Abrams)

This book about two girls – one working (unwillingly, by the sounds of it) for a lawyer trying to close down a local bike club, the other the daughter of the club’s president – sounds incredible! It’s billed as Sons of Anarchy meets Thelma & Louise, which is super-intriguing.

Sackur said: “I believe Catherine is a bright new star in British YA fiction. Troublemakers is an achingly honest coming-of-age novel about family, and the politicised world we live in. It’s got something to say for itself but it still wears its heart on its sleeve.”

Nicki Thornton, co-founder of Mostly Books, an independent bookshop in Abingdon, Oxfordshire has won the UK’s most valuable children’s writing competition with her unpublished debut The Firefly Cage.

She wins a £10,000 publishing contract with Chicken House, which will now work with the author on her novel, to be published in 2017. Thornton beat four other shortlisted writers to be named winner of the ninth Times/Chicken House Children’s Fiction Competition. The competition asks unpublished writers to submit a complete novel for children, and this year received a record number of over 1,000 entries, including many from overseas.

The Firefly Cage is aimed at the lucrative 9-12 readers market, and is described as a “magical murder mystery”. It tells the story of kitchen boy Seth, who is caught up in a murder investigation at a magicians’ convention. Since the disappearance of Seth’s father years before, his black cat Nightshade his been his only friend, and Seth must use all his wiles to prove his innocence to the Magical Constabulary before it is too late.

Speaking of her win, Thornton said: “I am beyond thrilled – it is a tremendous honour. It really is the children’s writing prize aspiring writers want to win. I am so proud the judges chose my book – I cannot wait to see what will happen next. I’ve learnt a lot writing The Firefly Cage and now I will be working with the team at Chicken House to make it as good as it can be.”

The panel was overseen by Chicken House MD Barry Cunningham, who says: “Nicki has written an utterly enthralling and constantly surprising locked room magical murder mystery, made all the more engaging by wonderful characters and a very confident authorial voice. Nicki mixes the best elements of several genres to come up with something original and wholly enchanting. I can’t wait to work with her to help turn The Firefly Cage into the bestseller it deserves to be.”

Cunningham added that this had been the competition’s most successful year in terms of quality and quantity of entries, which came from all over the world: “There is a huge amount of talent out there – not just in the UK but overseas as well, including India, Vietnam and Canada. The fact that we receive so many entries, and that the quality is so high, proves once again the importance of this competition in allowing new writers a different way to get noticed and for the children’s books world to discover new talents to feed readers’ insatiable appetite for new stories. That is why, while Nicki is our very deserving winner, we hope to work with other writers that made our shortlist to help them develop their careers.”

The competition has an impressive track record, with over half of shortlisted authors subsequently published by either Chicken House or other major UK publishers, achieving worldwide success and critical acclaim. For instance, 2013 shortlisted duo Tom Ellen and Lucy Ivison have now had two books published by Chicken House, including YA Prize shortlisted Lobsters (its sequel Freshers publishing in 2017).The winner of last year’s competition, The Secret Cooking Club by Laurel Remington, will be published on 4th August, and rights have been sold to six other countries including France and China.

From the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of Five, Six, Seven, Nate! and Better Nate Than Ever comes a laugh-out-loud sad YA debut that’s a wry and winning testament to the power of old movies and new memories-one unscripted moment at a time.

Shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award.
Has a great opening: “My dad died twice. Once when he was thirty nine and again four years later when he was twelve.”Extremely clever and totally engaging. The Irish Times

The shortlist for the 2016 Branford Boase Award is announced today (Wednesday 4th May 2016). The Branford Boase is an award given annually to the author of an outstanding debut novel for children. Uniquely, it also honours the editor of the winning title and highlights the importance of the editor in nurturing new talent.

From this year’s longlist of 23 books, the judges have selected a shortlist of six outstanding debut novels:

Stone Rider by David Hofmeyr, edited by Ben Horslen and Tig Wallace (Penguin)

The Unlikely Adventures of Mabel Jones by Will Mabbitt, edited by Ben Horslen. Illustrations by Ross Collins (Penguin)

My Brother is a Superhero by David Solomons, edited by Kirsty Stansfield (Nosy Crow)

Time Travelling with a Hamster by Ross Welford, edited by Nicholas Lake (HarperCollins Children’s Books)

The Art of Being Normal by Lisa Williamson, edited by Bella Pearson (David Fickling Books)

This year the judges are
Russell Allen team leader for children’s services across the West Sussex Library Service, recently awarded Public Librarian of the Year;
Simon Key, bookseller from the Big Green Bookshop in Wood Green;
Marion Lloyd, former children’s editor;
Rosie Rowell, author of Leopold Blue, winner of the 2015 Branford Boase Award.

The panel is, as usual, chaired by Julia Eccleshare, children’s books editor of the Guardian.

The winner of the 2016 Branford Boase Award will be announced on Thursday 7th July at a ceremony in London. The winning author receives a cheque for £1,000 and both author and editor receive a unique, hand-crafted silver-inlaid box.

Janetta Otter-Barry, the founder of independent publisher Otter-Barry Books, is hoping to publish new voices in children’s poetry with her new list.

Otter-Barry Books Poetry will publish two poetry titles this year: Adder, Bluebell, Lobster by Chrissie Gittins (illustrated by Paul Bommer), and Dinosaurs & Dinner-Ladies by John Dougherty (illustrated by Tom Morgan- Jones) in August, followed by two more in March 2017: How to be a Tiger by George Szirtes and Where Zebras Go by Sue Hardy-Dawson. All titles will be published in B-format paperback, priced £6.99.

Otter-Barry said she would then aim to issue four poetry books per year, looking at new voices as well as established writers, and that one title every year will be by a poet who has not published their own collection before.

“Sue Hardy-Dawson is our début for 2017. She has already been published in anthologies but this is her first single collection,” said Otter-Barry. “I found her through word of mouth. Poets are very generous in promoting each other and she was recommended.”

Walker Books will publish The City of Secret Rivers, the first book in a London-set children’s adventure trilogy by US writer Jacob Sager Weinstein.

Fiction publisher Gill Evans and commissioning editor Emma Lidbury negotiated a three-book deal for English and Commonwealth rights from Alex Webb at the Rights People.

Evans said: “It is really exciting to find such inventive energy and wit in writing for a younger audience. His considerable writing talent, combined with Jacob’s delight and passion for London’s secret underground places and forgotten rivers, makes the world of these books a wonderful place for imaginations to roam.”

The City of Secret Rivers wil be published in hardback in early 2017 with books two and three to follow in 2018 and 2019, respectively.